First Two Days at the Vet

Thursday marked my first day at the Barberton Veterinary Clinic.  When I got there, my sponsor wasn’t there and no one knew I was coming. Thankfully a really nice doctor, Dr. Terihay, and her vet tech, Michelle, had me just shadow them until closing. On Thursday, we saw a lot of routine dog checks and then I helped close the office down with Michelle. When I first arrived, I was allowed to watch the very end of a surgery in which a cat was being de-clawed and spayed. Apparently because I am not 18, I am not allowed to touch the animals (a rule I have already broken numerous times) even though I got a form from the school.

On Friday, I was at the hospital for a full day from 9 to 6. I started the day by meeting with my sponsor.  Afterwards I helped set up the rooms to start of the day. For the most part I watched and helped with patient evaluations and played with the animals when they were not being evaluated. At one point during the day I watched a surgery like procedure on a coatimundi. Unfortunately, the coatimundi had a paw issue that involved cutting off the infected tissue of the back paws (tissue that grew in and was not necessary); I will never forget that smell. It was really cool but really sad because it looked so painful and was because the owner was not closely watching the delicate paws of the coatimundi. On Friday, I also watched laser therapy on a poor dog that lost motor ability in his hind legs. It was very interesting but so sad because the dog was upset and in pain and afterwards I cuddled with him until his owners were ready to go.

All in all, my first two days at the vet hospital were quite eventful and fun. I am very excited for the next couple of days of project at the clinic because it will be so interesting.

Here’s a coatimundi. Unfortunately you cannot see the long tail or fortunately smell their natural odor but they’re pretty adorable.